X2 Mini Mill Power Feed

[apointofview]

Well I thought I would share my version of a power feed for my mill.
I cant spend the money it takes to get the mfg's feed so after reading a lot about other homemade power feeds here and around the net, this is what I came up with so far.

The motor/gearbox was from all electronics for $25 with shipping : http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/DCM-563/12VDC-RIGHT-ANGLE-GEAR-HEAD-MOTOR-WITH-WORM-DRIVE/1.html

The future motor controller is from ebay for $9 and .90 cent shipping ! : http://www.ebay.com/itm/151088811500?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_4788wt_4102

The power supply will be from a computer monitor at 14V and 3A about $6

Right now its an old train transformer that is really pushed to its limit ( it gets pretty warm !! )

I drilled the mill feed screw to accept a piece of delrin rod that i pinned to the feed screw and pinned a 14mm nut on the opposite end. I cut the motor output shaft and milled it down to fit in the 3/8 drive 14mm shallow no name socket. I just slide it back and forth to engage and disengage the power feed. The socket and delrin extension wiggle around a little but that allows for any slight misalignment of the motor and feed screw. I tried a more rigid setup at first but I found it would bind up a little here and there as the table moved from one stop to the other

The original plate on the end of the table was replace with a .160 2024 T3 aluminum plate and I turned a few bushings out of old brass faucet stems and 4 pieces of 10-24 threaded rod go from the outboard plate of the motor to the aluminum plate with locking nuts.
I had to rout out room for the two upper nuts on the end of the mill's table.

I have run a couple of cuts with it and the control is good, the finish is better that when ran by hand and the return speed doesn't make me wait forever !

When the other items arrive i will replace the cheesy speed tape chip guard with a box of some kind that will hold the switches and control.

here is the video, its cutting .050 off a 7075 T6 part for the crosshead guides of my steam engine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGcqeq4gUys

Pete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGcqeq4gUys

[ame]http://youtu.be/FGcqeq4gUys[/ame]

 

[steamboat willie]

Hi Pete!
I am most impressed at your power feed for your mill - both in how you did it and the results that you haver achieved. Despite how carefully I wind that handle I never seem to be able to get that smooth cut we all seek! I presume that the (overworked) train controller operates the motor in both directions in the same way it reversed the polarity for the train engine. Did you need to alter the circuitry in any way to cope with the added load on the controller?
Do you have any plans to power the other axis?
Thanks for the explanation and the video - I found it most beneficial.
Steamboat Willie (aka Bill).
As a footnote, I am amazed at the number of folk who improve their Seig-X2 mill and small 'Grizzly' lathe. I have improved my own small lathe, and (with MCRIPPer's help) posted my improvements on this Forum. Now I think I might be about to embark on improvement to the mill as well.

 

[gus]

Hi Pete,

Gus will "monkey see monkey do". Came across this 180 rpm DC motor gear drive weeks ago and contemplating if it will work. Thanks for putting it into action. Will buy this motor to make mill table power feed. This make milling of long pieces easier.I have bigger jobs planned and power feed makes these jobs sweeter and less sweaty in faraway Singapore.
Powered mill table drive from usual vendors cost a bomb and with Gus living at the other end of the hobby world,it cost
me a big bomb.

 

[cidrontmg]

Hi Gus, I think 180 Rpm is a bit too fast. My feed screws (X and Y) are M14 x 2, meaning one turn is 2 mm (fwd or rev). 180 Rpm is 3 turns/sec., it really zooms at that speed. It's rather difficult to wind slowly, 1/3 - 1/2 speed it's rather weak of a torque, and if you're not very careful, it stops. At full speed, torque is (-/+) OK, but then it won't instantly stop (it should!), so it's not convenient to run it. I tried first with a 37 mm dia. 180 Rpm, but bought some more motors, IMHO even the 120 Rpm is a bit too fast, and 60 Rpm is nice. Another thing is, the 60 Rpm is triple torque (3X) than 180 Rpm. At slow speeds (1/2 - 1/3), it winds quite elegantly slowly and smoothly.
The Chinese 37 mm motors cost less than 10 €. Try to eliminate everything possible stiffness that the screw winds very easily, and the table moves silk smooth ;D

 

[gus]

Hi Gus, I think 180 Rpm is a bit too fast. My feed screws (X and Y) are M14 x 2, meaning one turn is 2 mm (fwd or rev). 180 Rpm is 3 turns/sec., it really zooms at that speed. It's rather difficult to wind slowly, 1/3 - 1/2 speed it's rather weak of a torque, and if you're not very careful, it stops. At full speed, torque is (-/+) OK, but then it won't instantly stop (it should!), so it's not convenient to run it. I tried first with a 37 mm dia. 180 Rpm, but bought some more motors, IMHO even the 120 Rpm is a bit too fast, and 60 Rpm is nice. Another thing is, the 60 Rpm is triple torque (3X) than 180 Rpm. At slow speeds (1/2 - 1/3), it winds quite elegantly slowly and smoothly.
The Chinese 37 mm motors cost less than 10 €. Try to eliminate everything possible stiffness that the screw winds very easily, and the table moves silk smooth ;D

Hi Olli,

Please advice source for 60 rpm gearbox motor.

 

[old-and-broken]

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/gear-motor-60-rpm

some of these are chinese manufactured. Going to the item and looking for a company name may lead you to a local source by searching the internet with that name and location

 

[gus]

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/gear-motor-60-rpm

some of these are chinese manufactured. Going to the item and looking for a company name may lead you to a local source by searching the internet with that name and location

Hi Old & Broken,

Thanks for the expert advice. Went in to buy a 60rpm DC motor from Ebay.
Though I picked a 100 rpm motor last month to make a fishing rod wrapper.

 

[steamboat willie]

Apointofview,
I have been looking at your mods for the X2 mill. While I think a much more even finish can be attained with an even machine feed, I am just wondering how practical it is when machining to a mark? In this I mean that the power feed is not applied through a clutch, unless one is designed and fitted, so that when the power is shut off to the motor, momentum will still keep the motor turning unless it is fitted with an electric brake. Have you had any thoughts on this? I can certainly see advantages for milling longer items where a long pass is needed, but I am just wondering about the accuracy of being able to stop the travel of the table exactly where you want it.
I had a bit of a look at motors too and found:
www.ebay/itm/worm-gear-motor-DC-gear-motor-GW31ZY-12V-63rpm-/151098351911
Possibly with a tight geared head the problem I am concerned about wouldn't be an issue?


Just a thought.
Bill.

 

[apointofview]

Hey Guys thanks for all the great comments !!

cidrontmg,
As far as 180 rpm being to fast I agree for the actual cutting operation, but the speed is great when returning to the starting point for another pass. I think it is referred to as a 'Jog' but I cant be sure. With the train transformer ( that is complaining now ) I lower the feed to make a cut and then when returning to the starting point I run full speed back, it would be tough to watch that table move slow on the return leg.
This motor has plenty of torque, it was made to move the seat in a car. I havent had any problems driving the table so far and the speed control that is on a really slow boat from china is supposed to be a pulse type that claims to maintain torque at lower speeds.

Bill,
The train transformer works just great I didn't do anything but run the two wires from the 'track' terminals to the motor. I can run the motor from barely able to see it move to zipping right along and anything in-between forward or reverse. The only problem I cant run it for long because it gets really really hot, like cant touch it and the plastic handle is now warped. so in the interest of not burning the garage down I wont use it much anymore till the ebay controller shows up. No plans to drive any other axis unless I hit the lottery and make it cnc !!

I wouldn't use the feed to try to stop at an exact spot, at least with my skill, it is good for long multiple passes removing material where I am just sick of winding that handle but for the precision work when i need to hit an exact point i just use the handle. The motor drives a worm gear and it stops pretty fast and holds well, but the slop in the socket connection and my backlash make hitting a tight mark pretty iffy !

Gus,
I agree the mfg's feed looks nice but I cant justify the $$'s either, but this way was not that much and its kinda fun making something yourself and seeing it work. I want to setup switches to stop it automatically but that will be later.
I found a site here http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/mill-power-feed.html He built a real slick feed and he was nice enough to include a wiring diagram on his site to make a jog button for fast return and end point switches to stop the feed automatically. Sometime I will try to add that to my setup.

Pete

 

[apointofview]

A video is worth more than a thousand words.
Here is a short clip to show the difference between the feed rate cutting and then the faster return to the starting point without cutting. My compressor kicks on right near the end of video if anyone wonders what the noise is. Its feeding a blower that removes the chips being made during the cut.
Pete
[ame]http://youtu.be/qy1ZW8XO9qM[/ame]

 

[apointofview]

Well guys a little update,
I have assembled the first version of the control to my power feed. I already want to change the way it works but for now it does fine. The box will get labels when I can figure out how to print them up so they will last. I put plastic over the speed control rocker switch to keep chips out, and I think I will do something similiar for the jog direction toggle switch.
The speed control is from ebay and the rest of the parts are from an online store here http://www.allelectronics.com/ and the enclosure is from radio shack.
The switches under the table that stop the motor are attached with magnets and i just position them wherever they need to be to stop the motor. They still need work to protect them from getting damaged and I need bigger magnets to keep them from slipping.

Here are a few pics and a video.

Pete

link to youtube
[ame]http://youtu.be/xYFBcgHwCF0[/ame]

 

[steamboat willie]

Pete,
Thanks for the great video of what you have done and how you have done it! I too am in the process of fitting a power feed to my X2 mill, and in investigating the task , came across one done and very well documented in
mikesworkshop.weebly.com/mill-power-feed.html
Its amazing how great minds think alike, and how we each seem to come up with a different variation to the basic theme!
Bill.

 

[steamboat willie]

I noticed that the link doesn't seem to work. I typed "Mike's workshop - mill power feed" into Google and it appeared. Hope this helps someone.
Bill
PS Mike seems to have done a huge amount to his machines, and I am sure that others will enjoy looking at his site as much as I did..

 

[apointofview]

Hey Bill,
Thats why I get a kick out of this site. There are so many creative people here that are willing to share their ideas. Seeing what others build inspires me to learn and try shaping metal like they do !!
Pete

 

[steamboat willie]

Apointofview,
I note that you have fitted a jog switch to assist in the return of the job to the starting point. In what way is this different to switching the direction control to reverse and the travel speed to maximum, apart from the convenience that is. As far as I can see, the table cannot go any faster than the maximum speed that the motor can go, especially if it is a geared motor.
I am aware that on bigger machines a higher return speed is attained by use of different gearing, but in this application that option is not available.
I look forward to being enlightened!
Thanks!
Bill.
PS Had I been a bit more switched on, I would have realised that you had already highlighted Mike's machine website. Sorry for that oversight. B.

 

[apointofview]

Bill,
You have it exactly right it is for convenience only. I could reverse the control ramp it up to full voltage and then reverse again and go back to a cutting speed. That would work fine. As it is now i just have to hit one button to reverse direction at full voltage and then another button to resume the cut speed and direction.

I didnt know the real mills have gearing to vary feed speeds, I have only been able to be in the same room as a nice big full featured mill, never had the opportunity to use one

I added another pushbutton to my control to start the cut feed. The original setup worked like this. I ran a cut at a slow speed the table hit the stop switch, and it stoped. I would then push the jog button and it would run back till the table hit the jog stop switch and then it would stop jogging and immediately go to the cut direction and feed speed by itself. That was a little unnerving because I could see something not being ready.
So the fix was to add a cut start button. I didnt want to add much to the box, I just had to reroute a couple of wires and added a diode and one n.c. push button switch.
This is the wiring diagram now.
Pete

 

[gus]

Hi Pete,
Now mopping up the odds & ends on the a H&M Engine and should be running the engine by this Saturday.
Come next month will start on the mill table feed. DC motor and speed control on hand now. Most likely will be mirror image of your powered mill table feed. Sick and tired of hand cranking table to mill long pieces.

 

[apointofview]

Gus
I would like to see how it comes out !
Your engine looks great by the way !!
Pete

 

[zoltan]

I hope you don't mind me dredging this thread back up, but I'm about to start building my own power feed based on the same motor and general design you used. However, for the control box I was thinking of using the below diagram to simply things, and I wanted to get your opinion on whether it will work or not.

I'm making the possibly wrong assumption that if it's not connected to the motor then the speed control's draw will minimal even with its speed turned to max.

 

[zoltan]

My other idea is to wire in a switch between the speed controller and the speed adjustment knob to set it to maximum speed. The would simplify things even more.